Surge Protection or line conditioner?

[VindictivePantz]

Given the ice storm that just went through parts of the Chicago area, resulting in a lot of power outages, often led-up-to by flickering lights, and intermittent (1-2 second power outages), I was wondering what the thoughts were on surge protection or line conditioning for one's EV charger at home?

I've lost PCs and other electronics due to power challenges over the years and realized that there's now a really expensive appliance with wheels in my garage that is now exposed to similar risks.

Has anyone identified an approach?

Thank you in advance!

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[Rory]

Given how much the EVSE pulls when you’re charging, it seems like a whole house solution would be about the same cost and provide more benefit. However, I shudder to think how much line conditioning (protecting against brownouts) would cost. I have a line conditioner for our entertainment equipment because brownouts have previously fried stuff. Whole house surge protection, however, I believe is reasonably priced.

 

[VindictivePantz]

Given how much the EVSE pulls when you’re charging, it seems like a whole house solution would be about the same cost and provide more benefit. However, I shudder to think how much line conditioning (protecting against brownouts) would cost. I have a line conditioner for our entertainment equipment because brownouts have previously fried stuff. Whole house surge protection, however, I believe is reasonably priced.

Thanks - The whole-house surge protection, was my lean, but line conditioning is more elegant, but potentially more complex/expensive.

 

[4sallypat]

For the EVSE protection, get a surge supressor installed - can't do anything for brownouts or voltage sags, but helpful for overvoltage / lightning conditions.

As for standard 120V equipment, I have a battery backed UPS on all my stuff after learning the hard way when I had power surges decades ago that destroyed our A/C compressor and my PC gear.

I use APC and CyberPower rack mount UPS w/ large battery arrays for extended power outages:
Router
Server w/ NAS
WAPs
Desktops
Security system
Camera perimeter w/ NVR
A/V system

 

[Mach-Lee]

Given the ice storm that just went through parts of the Chicago area, resulting in a lot of power outages, often led-up-to by flickering lights, and intermittent (1-2 second power outages), I was wondering what the thoughts were on surge protection or line conditioning for one's EV charger at home?

I've lost PCs and other electronics due to power challenges over the years and realized that there's now a really expensive appliance with wheels in my garage that is now exposed to similar risks.

Has anyone identified an approach?

Thank you in advance!

The main thing is to get whole-house surge protection, I would want that bare minimum for charging an EV. Otherwise the dips and brownouts aren't really too big of an issue. The charger in the Mach-E is designed to handle a wide voltage range from 80 to 280V so it most likely will not be damaged by anything other than a large power surge. Worst case you get a charge fault after a power hit, no damage other than disrupted charging. It's monitoring the voltage hundreds of times per second and will likely shut down faster than you can imagine if a voltage is out of spec.

Line conditioning for EV charging is overkill and would be extremely expensive for the power level required.

 

[nmope]

I had the same thought as you and went with this one.
Great price currently, I paid more than $300!!
Siemens FS140 Whole House Surge Protection , Gray https://a.co/d/6yqeLWa

 

[VindictivePantz]

I had the same thought as you and went with this one.
Great price currently, I paid more than $300!!
Siemens FS140 Whole House Surge Protection , Gray https://a.co/d/6yqeLWa

Thank you!

 

[Graction]

Good idea to get a battery backup UPS for your EVSE so if the power goes out you can keep charging your Mach-e.

 

[bellyer]

I went with whole house Siemens surge protectors, but did not do line conditioning. Set me back $975 (I have 400 Amp service), but I felt it was worth it given the two EVs and all the solar, computer equipment, entertainment equipment, electric tankless water heaters and appliances throughout our house. Definitely gives me some piece of mind after having a few things fried by surges over the years.

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